Kinda like a diary of sorts for a gal who refuses to grow up but who's old enough to know better, likes her beach holidays, beer, gin, WoW, music, working out, reading, footie and nerdy, geeky sci-fi stuff...

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Reflections

Well, now that I'm no longer really distracted by the World Cup (apart from the various prediction competitions and fantasy football leagues I've joined), I can now reflect briefly upon my last few weeks in Stockholm and also on the fact that I will be starting a new job tomorrow.

I will miss the 'beautiful city built on water' which I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to explore during my weekends here; I'll miss the cool but friendly and incredibly slim Swedish people; I'll miss my colleagues and friends over there; I'll miss the Nordic Sea hotel which became like a 'home' to me; I'll also miss some of the travelling, which gave me time to relax and catch up on my sleep on the plane. I'll miss eating out in nice restaurants and drinking alcohol during the week, something I rarely do back home. I'll miss saying "Hej!" to people...

My leaving do was in a sports bar, so we (or rather I...) could watch the football - more people turned up than expected and I was really grateful and happy that they wanted to see me off.

I was subjected to a leaving presentation on my last day and gave a very short and rather choked speech, as I knew I would end up in tears if it went on any longer.

I couldn't stop my tears however during the taxi journey to the airport - felt like a sad muppet, but you know, I'm going to really miss the place!

I think I did a good job there, though would have liked to have finished it to my own satisfaction.Now, will be back permanently in the UK, back to feeling stupid at not knowing what to do, back to office politics, back to traffic jams on the M60.

But it's not all bad - I will be back with the boyfriend, back with my friends, and back home.

I just read that Sweden was a great place for women to advance because you are judged on skills and talent not by your sex. I know this doesn't help but thought it was interesting and made me thing of you when I read it. You are coming home, really. It's all good.